Fire and Ice 5

General Summary

5 Arodus 4713

A couple hours after the skeletons, we discovered a trail of blood which led us to the body of a man. The man had been mauled to death by a very large animal. Amongst his belongings was a journal, which identified him as Dryden Kepp, a hunter from Heldren. According to the journal, he was tracking a giant weasel and had set up bear traps in a valley not far from where we were. He caught the weasel, but it got away. Apparently, it then caught and killed him, poor guy. The journal also mentioned he had discovered a strange hut with an even stranger doll inside. The weasel had left a bloody trail, and we could have tried to follow it, but we decided it was better to continue on the main trail we were following. We gave Mr Kepp a burial and went on our way. Before we reached the valley from Kepp's journal, we reached a clearing in the forest which had an area strangely cleared of snow. As we went to investigate, several of the surrounding fir trees attacked us. According to Cassy, they were called "frost firs" and were not native to this part of the world--not surprising. They must have come from wherever the fey had come from. We killed them, but then discovered something a little disturbing. In the area cleared of snow, we discovered a bunch of frost fir seedlings. They had planted their young here--young that would now no longer have parents to look after them. Their parents had attacked us unprovoked and we had defended ourselves, which is our right, but... Yeah, I felt kind of bad, and Bronwyn especially did. She declared that we needed to find a home for them--an orphanage or something to care for them. I doubt there are any actual orphanages that would know what to do with frost first, but perhaps we could find a druid or other person who would be willing to do it. We agreed to leave the seedlings where they were for now, but we would come back for them after we dealt with the fey. A short time later, we reached the valley where Kepp left the bear traps. The location of the triggered one was obvious, and with a little searching, Ten-Penny soon found two others, which we were careful to avoid. Just after that, we came across a very strange clearing. It was filled with large blocks of ice along a slight incline leading up to a hut. The hut stood on four tree trunks, the gnarled roots of which kind of gave the impression of chicken feet. It had to be the hut from Kepp's journal. As we moved forward, a young girl appeared amongst the blocks of ice. She yelled out at us that she was sorry. "Don't hurt me! I never meant to call you names!" Then she flickered and vanished, reappearing a little further back amongst the ice blocks. Again, she called out to us, something like, "Please don't keep me here! It's so cold. I miss my mummy!" Then she flickered and vanished again, reappearing farther back. Next, she said, "I don't want your stupid doll. I want to go home. Take me back!" Once more, she vanished and reappeared farther back. It was clear she wasn't talking to us, but to someone else. However, with her next words, she seemed to acknowledge us. "I have to get away, and you should too! Before they see you. Run!" Then she vanished and didn't reappear. The poor girl couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old. She had blonde hair in pigtails, and such a frightened face. I dreaded to think what could have happened to her, to die so young. Because it was clear we were seeing a ghost. Grinner wanted to leave. He argued that there was nothing we could do against a ghost and that we should get out of there just like the little girl said. Cassy said no and ordered him to stay. He and Cassy moved farther forward, towards the hut. When they reached the edge of the ice blocks, imgaes--terrible images of death--appeared in the blocks of ice. They were only there for a moment, but they were so vivid and realistic. Grinner ran. He ran past the rest of us and back the way we came. It turns out, he was under a magical compulsion. He and Cassy had triggered some sort of trap near the hut. The effect was only brief and temporary, but Grinner didn't come back. Ten-Penny sought him out and found him hiding in a tree some ways back down the trail. I don't really blame Grinner for not wanting to come back. I was terrified too, but in my case, I was too terrified to run or say anything. We did convince Grinner to rejoin us though. This time, Cassy approached the hut alone. She has guts. I have to say that much about her. Leaning up and peering inside the open door, she saw a doll sitting on a chair. The doll looked superficially like the little girl, except her face was that of a crone, and her eyes were a gem and a mirror. And then the doll attacked, giggling with the voice of the little girl. Cassy did some nasty damage to the doll. Her spell-gun seemed to be particularly effective against it. The rest of us helped, but minimally. Grinner didn't even try to fight the doll. Instead, he threw oil and alchemist's fire into the hut, trying to set it ablaze. We defeated the doll, and Cassy identified it as a kind of "soulbound doll", a vile creation where the soul of a living being is placed inside a doll that is set to guard a place. Dear gods, that poor, poor girl. To use a child in such a way. I don't think I've ever felt such anger before. After the doll was defeated, the ghost of the girl reappeared and spoke to us. She said her name was Sofia, and she was from some place called Waldsby. None of us had heard of it. She told us she was killed by a "winter witch" and that the witch was watching us. Cassy realised immediately that the doll's mirror eye had to be how the witch was watching and destroyed it. The girl told us she could be put to rest if both the gem holding her soul and the hut were destroyed. Cassy took care of the gem, and Grinner was already well into the process of burning the hut. I assisted him--we all did--and we watched as the hut burned. It took awhile, and we all cried, but eventually, the hut started to fall apart. Sofia flickered more frequently and started to fade. As the hut collapsed, she spoke one last time: "If you see my mummy, tell her I love her." Then she was gone. We'd had enough for the day. We turned around and spent a couple hours trekking back to the Lodge to spend the night. We picked up the frost fir seedlings along the way. I have to confess, I don't know what to think of Grinner. Sometimes, I feel for him, like when he was frightened of the ghost. And the power dynamic between him and Cassy feels gross sometimes, though I guess that's the whole being a familiar thing. But he can also be a cruel bastard. The first thing he did after getting back to the Lodge--as we were recovering from the terrible, heart-breaking event we'd been through with Sofia--was torture Fuck You. He retrieved the sprite from the stables and started dunking him in water as a way to get him to talk. Bronwyn had very stern words with him, so I'm told. Good for her. I like Bronwyn. Once Grinner's malicious activities were stopped, we had some dinner, and Cassy suggested we should name are our group. We settled on the Firing Squad. I like it a lot!

6 Arodus 4713

I had disturbing dreams during the night, like a disembodied voice was talking to me. I woke with something in my head, and I screamed for help. The others came quickly. I tried to explain what was happening, but I didn't really know what was happening. I still don't fully understand it. Something was talking to me in my head. Except it wasn't really talking. It was more like feelings. Something was feeling in my head, but it wasn't me. It was urging me to... I couldn't be sure at first, but it seemed like it wanted me to let it out. How could I do that when I didn't even know how it had got there? I mentioned before that I don't really understand my own magic. Cassy has referred to me a couple times as a "kineticist", but I have no idea what that is. I've always had this affinity for fire, and one day, I found I could create fire and manipulate it to an extent. I don't know how I figured it out. I just did. And that's what happened now. I started weaving fire in my hands and around my arms. Slowly the fire started to take the shape of an animal. Then suddenly, the flames winked out and there was an otter in my arms. Everyone was stunned, me most of all. This was Frono. I don't know how I knew his name. Maybe I made it up, but it felt like I just knew it. Cassy says he is a type of familiar called an elemental whisper. Unlike other familiars, which are physical creatures, Frono is made up of pure fire, even if he doesn't look it. I have since discovered I can put him back in my head whenever I want, though he likes the freedom of being out. I thought it would be good to introduce Frono to Grinner, since they're both familiars. Maybe Grinner could teach Frono what it was like. But Frono didn't seem to like Grinner much. Even when he's out of my head, I still get impressions of his thoughts, and Frono's were filled with suspicion. He made a very humanoid-like gesture at Grinner, indicating that he was going to be watching the ratfolk closely. Another strange thing happened shortly after that. As we were preparing to head out again, Ten-Penny passed near me, and commented, "Woah, you're hot!" I was a bit unsure what to say as I'm easily embarrassed by things like that, though I was very flattered. She's kind of hot too. I muttered a thank you, but it turned out that wasn't what she meant. She meant I was literally hot, as in my skin was radiating heat. For some reason, my skin now burns to the touch. For other people that is. I can touch myself fine. I'm not so hot that my clothes burn, though they are obviously hot too. I'm a little worried about this. I don't know why it's happening, and what if my skin keeps getting hotter? Someone touching me now would only get a minor burn, but if I get hotter...? Plus, if I stay like this, how will I ever touch another person again? Physical touch is nice once in a while, especially with the right person. Will I never be able to hold someone's hand or hug again? It's kind of frightening. We set out again and returned to the remains of the hut. On the trail leading away, we spotted some sort of writing in the snow. It turned out to be a kind of magical written trap. We considered trying to set it off from a distance, but Cassy warned that triggering it could alert the person who set the trap. So we went carefully around it and continued on our way. That's all the time I have to write for now. Back soonish.

Your now-smouldering friend,
Izzy (and Frono).